How to Read a State Salary Schedule
A state salary schedule can look dense, but it follows a consistent logic. Here is how to read one and find the number you actually want — the pay for a specific job.
The same approach works whether a state publishes a grade-and-step grid or a minimum-to-maximum salary range; once you know where to look, most schedules read the same way.
Find the grade for the job
Pay is assigned by a job classification — the state’s standard definition of a job — and each classification maps to one pay grade (see what a civil-service pay grade is). Start from the classification — its title and class code — because that is what points you to the grade. On this site, a classification page shows the grade and links straight to the schedule it is paid on.
Read across the grade row
On a grid schedule, find your grade’s row, then read across the step columns — usually from the lowest-paid step to the highest. Steps are often numbered 1 to N, but some states label them with letters or use a different order, so rely on the schedule’s own step labels rather than assuming a fixed layout. On a range schedule there are no step columns: you will see just a minimum and maximum for the grade.
A worked example
Say you are reading a grade-and-step grid and want the pay for a job in Grade 14 — a hypothetical grade used here just to illustrate. Find the Grade 14 row, then move across to the step that applies: a new hire usually starts at the first step, and later steps show what the job pays after successive increases. The cell where the row and step meet is the base rate for that position. On a range schedule the same job would instead show a single minimum-to-maximum band, with no fixed cell to land on.
Check the effective date and basis
Confirm two things before you trust a number: the effective date (an older schedule may be superseded) and the pay basis — whether the figure is annual, monthly, or hourly. A monthly rate read as if it were annual is off by a factor of twelve, so every table states its basis. See data sources for each state’s update cadence.
Which schedule applies
One state can publish several schedules at once — a general grid plus separate tables for particular bargaining units, agencies, or job families. If a title does not appear on the first schedule you open, it may live on another, so match the schedule to the classification’s pay plan or bargaining unit rather than assuming a single master table covers everyone.
When a table is missing
If a schedule can’t be verified against its state source, we hide it rather than show a possibly-wrong figure, and link you to the source instead. A wrong table is worse than no table — more on that in our methodology.
Not a government website. See our methodology and the full list of state sources.